OP0088-HPR FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH MEETING RECOMMENDED PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS WHO HAVE POOR PHYSICAL FUNCTION
Authors: K. Wibring, S. Bergman, M. Andersson
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2023)

<h3>Background</h3> Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease that often leads to a major impact on physical function and quality of life. It is well known that physical activity is an important part of treatment and improve clinical outcome. <h3>Objectives</h3> The aim was to study factors associated with meeting recommended level of physical activity in people with RA with poorer physical function. <h3>Methods</h3> In 2017, a survey was sent to patients included in the BARFOT (Better Anti-Rheumatic pharmacotherapy) cohort [1]. The questionnaire included questions on age, sex, disease duration, smoking, body mass index (BMI), physical function assessed by health assessment questionnaire (HAQ; 0-3, best to worst), numeric rating scale (NRS) pain (0-10, best to worst), NRS fatigue (0-10, best to worst), disease activity assessed by self-reported 28-tender (TJC, 0-28) and swollen joint count (SJC, 0-28), health-related quality of life assessed by Europol 5-dimension 3-level (EQ5D; 0- 1, worst to best), empowerment assessed by the Swedish Rheumatic Disease Empowerment Scale (SWE-RES-23; 1-5, worst to best), cardiovascular diseases (CVD), and antirheumatic treatment, corticosteroids (CS), conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (cDMARD), biologic DMARD (bDMARD). 1065 patients (69%) answered the questionnaire and were dichotomized based on the median of HAQ, which was 0.5. The group with the worst physical function, HAQ &gt;0.5, was further dichotomized based on whether they met the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended level of physical activity (pulse-increasing physical activity with moderate intensity at least 150 minutes/week or at least 75 minutes/week with high intensity) or not. Median and interquartile range (IQR) and Mann-Whitney U test or chi-2 were used to analyse differences between groups, when appropriate. A logistic regression model adjusting for age and sex was used to study factors associated with fulfilling the recommendations on physical activity. <h3>Results</h3> The patients with the worst physical function, meeting the criteria for recommended physical activity (RPA), had less pain, and fatigue, fewer swollen and tender joints, less CVD 48% vs. 64% (p&lt;0.001), and fewer were obese than those who did not meet the recommendations (Not RPA), Table 1. They also had a better quality of life and a higher degree of empowerment, Table 1. Factors associated with fulfilling the recommended level of physical activity in the group with the worst physical function were obesity, BMI ≥30 kg/m<sup>2,</sup> (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.32-0.83), HAQ (OR 0.32, 95% CI 0.21-0.48), NRS pain (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.77-0.91), NRS fatigue (OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.82-0.95), TJC (OR 0.97, 95% CI 0.95-1.00) and SJC (OR 0.96, 95% CI 0.93-0.99), EQ5D (OR 8.36, 95% CI 3.74-18.64), SWE-RE-S23 (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.02-1.93). and cardiovascular diseases (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.45-0.95). Medical treatment was not associated with meeting the criteria for physical activity. <h3>Conclusion</h3> The results indicate a complex relationship between various factors that can affect the possibility to be physically active when having RA. Disease-related factors such as pain, fatigue, and tender and swollen joints are important to address, but also the health-related quality of life and empowerment, to be able to improve physical activity in individuals with RA that have poor physical function. <h3>Reference</h3> [1]Hafstrom I, et al. Open Access Rheumatol. 2019;11:207-17. <h3>Acknowledgements:</h3> NIL. <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None Declared.